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The Real Secret to Preventing Kids’ Obesity

Hot on the heels of what I wrote Monday about the First Lady's obesity campaign comes a report in the journal Pediatrics on three simple routines that can cut child obesity:

have family dinners more than five nights a week

make sure kids get enough sleep (10.5 hrs a night)

limit weekday TV time to under two hours a night

It seems that four-year-olds whose families did these things were 40 percent less likely to be obese.

This "magic three" is getting a lot of attention. But it seems to me it's not these exact routines but something broader that probably makes all the difference in the world: They all symbolize a parent who's really paying attention! If a child is eating homecooked meals with the parents, they're probably pretty plugged into what the child is consuming and not letting him graze willynilly all day. If a child is sleeping regularly, his parents are making it happen, which means they're on top of his or her routines. If a child isn't zombiefied in front of the TV all day, it's because he's got parents (or someone) around who cares what he is doing.

And this adds up to a child who's more likely to feel secure and happy and regulated — all the things a preschooler needs to grow up mentally and physically healthy. And that seems to be the crux of avoiding obesity. It's not like a scary monster that creeps up on you. You know it when you see it!

We've all missed family meals or eaten them on the soccer run. We've all let the TV run for hours on snow days and sick days and days we have something urgent to do. The key takeaway here isn't about numbers but about smart connecting.

And meanwhile, for anyone unsure of the basic building blocks of child well being, those three basic routines are a great place to start.

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